Saturday, October 08, 2011

One of those oddball things that came to mind when considering bike maintenance:Grew up in a small town for a number of years, late 60's-early 70's. Everybody who could talk their parents into it and get enough together got their motorcycle license when they turned 14(guys; never saw a girl get one). Most were Honda or Yamaha single-cylinder, 75-100cc(at that time in OK if you were under 16 you couldn't have a bike over 100cc for road use).

It was wheat country, which means, especially spring/summer, lots of dust in the air. One guy had a Honda 90 that started burning oil badly, and had the engine rebuilt: bored-oversize cylinder, piston and rings to match, cleaned up the valves. Ran beautifully.

For about three months.

At which time it was smoking like he had a wood-burning steam engine in the thing and you could smell the oil. He started griping about what pieces of crap Honda made, and one day I asked when was the last time he'd cleaned the air filter(remember, back then it was a foam filter you soaked some oil into):

"I took it off."

I don't really understand why, but I'd gotten something of a reputation of a bike guy; apparently reading the owner's manual for things like the filter and adjusting clutch and brake cables was good enough. So I said "Why?"

"Because you get more power that way!" Accompanied by a look of 'you didn't know that?'.

"Well, that's why it's burning oil again! Without the filter it's sucking in all this dust and it's grinding the rings down!"

This was a guy who had family who farmed, not exactly unacquainted with mechanical stuff, but for some reason the fact of what that filter was there for hadn't really sunk in. Or what would happen if you didn't use it. The look on his face, I'd have to describe as 'Dawning Aw Shit'.

say "Enough of this crap":The sheriffs represent Pinal, Cochise, LaPaz, Mohave, Greenlee, and Yavapai counties and are both Democrats and Republicans. They all agreed that it was not a partisan issue for them but rather a feeling of betrayal by the Federal government. According to the report by ABC 15 reporter Lori Jean Gliha, all the sheriffs were united in their call for an independent investigation."It's embarrassing to this country and me," said LaPaz County Sheriff Don Lowery. "I've spent fifty years in uniform, and it's embarrassing for me to stand before you and apologize for people that we elect."Right now, they and a lot of other cops are wondering how many robberies/rapes/murders in their areas were committed with guns that Obama, Holder & Co. ran to the cartels.

Words from Mark Steyn:Steyn noted the lack of media outrage compared with other scandals in the past.

“Now real Mexicans are dead,” he continued. “Does the president of the United States, does his attorney general, does CNN, does The New York Times, does NPR — do they not care about dead Mexicans?

“I mean, forget the United States Border Patrol guys that were killed about these ‘Fast & Furious’ guns. Real-live, or previously live, citizens of third world countries — the kind of people that NPR, The New York Times claim to love — are dead because of this.”

“Why isn’t that a national scandal?” he pleaded. “This is absolutely a — Iran-Contra didn’t rack of that kind of body count. Watergate didn’t rack up that kind of body count. Sarah Palin’s daughter’s boyfriend’s mother, or whatever stupid story they were chasing around Wasilla for months, that didn’t rack up a body count. There were hundreds of dead Mexicans from a gun running program run by the United States.”Video at the link. Oh, hell, I'll steal it:

Dad spent over 30 years on Highway Patrol here in OK, every kind of vehicle/vehicle & pedestrian/vehicle & livestock accident imaginable; there are some he still won’t speak of. Stories like this, I suspect, are why. (Found at BRM)

I keep seeing people on Facebook posting 'Support the daring people occupying Wall Street' and such crap; they don't seem to like hearing about what some of those 'caring people' are doing:Several influential New York state lawmakers have received threatening mails saying it is “time to kill the wealthy” if they don’t renew the state’s tax surcharge on millionaires, according to reports.“It’s time to tax the millionaires!” reads the email, according to WTEN in Albany. “If you don’t, I’m going to pay a visit with my carbine to one of those tech companies you are so proud of and shoot every spoiled Ivy League [expletive] I can find…”

I think I've been interested in volcanoes most of my life; the first big one I read about was probably Krakatau. Take a look at where it isIt blew itself almost out of existence in August, 1883. Look at the islands around it, and imagine what the tsunami was like.More pictures of volcanoes here.

Rather, the time needed to remove things to GET TO the filter, and it reminded me of something:Back when crotch rockets(aka 'superbikes' at the time) were getting popular, some bike rag added a test to their road tests: at some point during the time they had it, they'd park it normally, and them push it over. Then ride to the nearest dealer to get an estimate of what it'd cost to repair the damage to the fairing. Some of the estimates made you think the damn things were made of unobtanium plated with atomized unicorn fur.

heard about this yet?In an obvious effort to protect President Barack Obama, a group of congressional Democrats has introduced legislation to create an official process that will allow the commander-in-chief to keep presidential records secret after he leaves office.

Ironically, Obama revoked a similar George W. Bush order in one of his first official acts as president. In 2001 Bush penned an executive order severely limiting public access to his presidential records. Shortly after swearing in, Obama killed it as part of his much-ballyhooed commitment to government transparency. At the time, the new president claimed that he was giving the American people greater access to “historic documents.”—If the Democrats’ proposed measure (Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2011) becomes law, former presidents will be allowed to assert a new “constitutionally based privilege” against disclosing records of their liking. Here is how it would work; the Archivist of the United States would be required to notify the former president, as well as the incumbent, of intentions to make records public. Anything that either the former or current president claims should be kept private won’t be released.

One part:O'REILLY: Well, wait wait, wait, wait, wait. Now, I have had that happen to me, and you wouldn't- anybody would curse at me- I mean, come on. You get a promotion doing that. But you're a nice person. I mean, you're just somebody who's trying to get the story. Why would this guy curse at you? What led him to do that?

ATTKISSON: In the course of covering these kinds of stories, as you know, you get into a lot of difficult moments with people that you talk to, and they probably don't think you're as nice as you think I am, Mr. O'Reilly. But when you talk to them-

O'REILLY: No- well, you know what I'm talking about here. It usually lights a fuse- particularly if somebody like that- at that level, the White House level, did actually curse at a reporter, a CBS News correspondent- that's not something that happens every day, Sharyl. So what do you think lit that fuse?

ATTKISSON: Well, I would say there have been some pretty incredible developments in the past week. Also, documents- we haven't even had time to report on all of them. There are very sensitive documents and allegations going around. Many of them we haven't reported yet because we need to get more confirmation of them. But what you see on the surface, that we do report in our stories, is really only a part of what may be going on, and we may be reporting in the future when we can get confirmation-

O'REILLY: Okay-

ATTKISSON: And I can only say that this is a very sensitive story that goes into many facets-

O'REILLY: Absolutely-

ATTKISSON: And there's a lot of sensitivities-Oh, Ms. Attkisson, I think you're stomping all over their sensitivities.

When it was just Mike Vanderboegh at Sipsey Street and Dave Codrea reporting on this, the White House got to pretty much ignore it; but this here innernets(thanky, Algore!) let them both contact people and put the information out. Not that long ago it'd have been phone calls and magazine articles months delayed, but now the information gets out now, to anybody and everybody interested. And that helped get Attkisson, an actual reporter it seems, involved. And now Obama & Minions are getting actual questions from people, and what comes out in the committee gets around to everyone; and it's gotten real, real interesting.

My own learning experience that same week was even more ironic and thought provoking. I was sitting in a seminar on the Holocaust at the University of San Francisco, completely mesmerized by the personal testimony of William Lowenberg, a Holocaust survivor now recently deceased. As he closed his incredible presentation, reminding us of how important it is to investigate and teach about the past, the Blue Angels flew over Lone Mountain, interrupting with their own thunderous narrative. I wondered what associations such sounds from the sky had in Lowenberg’s mind. I could not fathom the gravity.

Of that, I have absolutely no doubt. Because, while there were no FA-18s flying overhead the concentration camps in World War II, there were P-51s and P-47s, flown by the forefathers of those men whose noise and valor you despise, Mr.Hill. To Mr Lowenberg, the sound of their heirs overhead very likely associated in his mind with life and liberty.Mr. Hill, you might look up that quote about 'rough men ready to do violence': it's why clowns like you have the freedom and leisure to bitch about Tommy.

As to Mr. Lowenberg... I can't remember where to find the piece, but years back read about a old Jewish couple who somehow survived in a camp, and after it was liberated they discovered that one of the troops was a Jew. They were alive, and one of their people helped throw the bastards out. The writer spoke of how they marveled at 'how big and strong you are!', and then the man stroked the M1 he held and said "And what a fine rifle you have!"Somehow, I doubt Mr. Lowenberg considers American airmen to be a threat. Except to the enemy.

Update: Mr. Volk provided the link I'd forgotten, here's the passage:I chose it because of a short story by Irwin Shaw that I read a couple of years earlier and which I have re-read frequently since. It was called "Act of Faith". Although I disagreed with the ending of it, a particular page struck in my mind and made me spend money on a clumsy, over-muscled artifact from the more primitive times.

It just so happend that most of my grandmother's family was wiped out by Germans in 1941. They did not get to see the liberators nor could they fend for themselves for they lived in the Soviet- and later Nazi-occupied Belorus...and neither of the masters would permit them weapons for self-protection.

My Garand has a lot of dings on the stock, despite having been refinished more than once from the looks of things; all I did was get out the old grease & oil and give it several coats of a protective finish. The barrel isn't the original; not surprising as the serial number shows it was made in early January 1941. A couple of years ago I dated a lady who wasn't exactly thrilled with my liking/owning firearms and asked me why; I showed her the Garand, told what I knew of this history and ended with "This is an actual physical piece of American history. I get to use it and care for it for a time, then it'll go to the kids. This is among the reasons I own them."

One more story: a few years back a local shop got in some Mauser rifles that looked like standard K98 models. Closer inspection showed all the German proofs had been defaced(on some of the rifles chopped to complete illegibility), and on the receiver ring was stamped a six-pointed star. These were some of the rifles smuggled to what what would become Israel. I told the lady that it greatly pleased me to think of Hitler & Co. gnashing their teeth in hell at the knowledge that Nazi-produced arms had been used to help create and defend the nation of Israel.

An old Marine Pilot sat down at the Starbucks, still wearing his old USMC flight suit and leather jacket and ordered a cup of coffee.

As he sat sipping his coffee, a young woman sat down next to him. Sheturned to the pilot and asked, 'Are you a real pilot?'

He replied, 'Well, I've spent my whole life flying planes, first Steadman's, then the early Grummans... Flew a Wildcat and Corsair in WWII, and later in the Korean conflict, Banshees and Cougars. I've taught more than 260 people to fly and given rides to hundreds, so I guess I am a pilot; and you,what are you?

She said, 'I'm a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about naked women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think about naked women. When I shower, I think about naked women. When I watch TV, I think about naked women. It seems everything makes me think of naked women.'

The two sat sipping in silence.

A little while later, a young man sat down on the other side of the old pilot and asked: "are you a real pilot?"

He replied, 'I always thought I was, but I just found out I'm a lesbian.'

Thursday, October 06, 2011

how long has this idiocy been going ON? And how many people are dead from it?Allegations are that the Obama Administration had gun-walking operations in at least 10 cities in 5 states, including the Midwest and East Coast states. The operations were not feeding weapons just to cartels, but street gangs, contributing to the murder of an unknown (for now) number of American citizens, in addition to hundreds of deaths in Mexico.Which means how many people dead right here in the US?

In case it didn't sink in before, I don't give a rat's ass who authorized it, when or where: ANYBODY, any party, any whatever, who took part in such needs to be tarred, feathered and then- no, strap them to a whipping post and use a flagrum, THEN the tar and feathers.

According to Atkisson, "gunwalking" may not be limited to border towns.

She said, "We have found allegations of gunwalking in at least 10 cities in five states, so this apparently was not isolated to Arizona."

Added: More proof of AG Holder: PerjurerSenator Chuck Grassley and Congressman Darrell Issa today said that Attorney General Eric Holder received at least five weekly memos beginning in July 2010, including four weeks in a row, describing the ill-advised strategy known as Operation Fast and Furious. The memos were to Holder from Michael Walther, the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center.

The Attorney General told Issa during a House Judiciary Committee in May 2011 that he had just learned of Fast and Furious a few weeks before. Yet, on January 31, in a previously scheduled meeting, Grassley personally handed him two letters about Fast and Furious. Grassley and Issa said they find it very troubling that Holder actually knew of Operation Fast and Furious much earlier, and in greater detail than he ever let on.

The memos specifically said that the straw buyers were “responsible for the purchase of 1500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug trafficking cartels.”

Visiting Phoenix City Hall on Thursday, the Colombian-born entertainer told more than 100 members of the media: "I'm in opposition to this law because it is a violation of human and civil rights. It goes against all human dignity, against the principles of most Americans I know.

The response:Kid, you're pretty and talented; you're also NOT A US CITIZEN and our laws to deal with illegal aliens are none of your damned business. Go sing and dance and shake them hips, and stay the hell out of our business.

By the way, if you're all so concerned and all, why weren't you raising hell when Pelosi & Co. were preventing a free-trade agreement with Colombia from going through? Or is them screwing with your country not as important somehow as you screwing with ours?

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Today, I called CBS News in an attempt to interview Attkisson. I was told by CBS News senior vice president of communications Sonya McNair that Attkisson would be unavailable for interviews all week. When I asked why Attkisson would be unavailable, McNair would not say.I've also heard from a producer at another media outlet that has previously booked Attkisson that they tried to book her since she made news with the Laura Ingraham interview yesterday. They were also told that she would be unavailable.

After our initial conversation earlier today, I called McNair back and left a message with her office. I also sent McNair an email asking whether Attkisson's unavailability has anything to do with reporting that the White House and Justice Department were angry at her. I further asked McNair if the White House or Justice Department contacted CBS News about Attkisson since yesterday. McNair has not responded to my inquiries.From what I've read the CBS brass haven't exactly been enthusiastic about investigating this in the first place; with Attkisson actually acting as a reporter(as opposed to the current examples of 'journalist') they're probably catching heat from the Obama minions for daring to allow someone to really investigate.

Added: this says there are so many requests for interviews that they've told her to just stay on the story for now. Hopefully, that's the case.

In direct response to a question from Univision’s Jorge Ramos as to who authorized the operation, the president said:

Well, first of all I did not authorize it. Eric Holder, the Attorney General, did not authorize it. He’s been very clear that our policy is to catch gun runners and put them into jail.

The problem with this statement, as the top-level Justice Department memoranda reveal, is that Holder knew gunwalking operations were occurring, that his direct reports were involved in them, and that he did nothing to stop them, or, based on evidence gleaned to date, to even question them. That his subordinates felt comfortable including him on routine reporting shows they assumed his tacit approval for their activities, that is, his authorization.

No other explanation is credible, including ridiculous new excuses which would show unprecedented incompetence if we are to believe that Holder did not read the reports from his staff, or that he did not understand a direct question put to him by Darrell Issa, or that the memoranda were talking about a different gunwalking operation!!! andAnd there’s another problem for the president, because his assurances have covered more than his attorney general not authorizing gunwalking. He is also on record asserting Holder did not know about it (as well as covering his own tracks):

I heard on the news about this story that…uh…Fast and Furious, where … uh … allegedly … uh … guns were being run into Mexico and ATF knew about it but didn’t … uh … apprehend those who had, who had sent it. Eric Holder is the attorney general, has been very clear that he knew nothing about this…

"Very clear"...?

Documented evidence from the Justice Department now shows us this is just not so. So the questions now become:

Did the president believe what he was saying when he said it?

Did Holder lie to his boss as well as to the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform?

Or might we have probable cause to doubt the implausible assertions coming from the Chief Executive? Especially since the White House withheld releasing “an unspecified number of internal e-mails exchanged among three National Security Staff aides” because, according to its Chief Counsel “the [Executive Office of the President] has significant confidentiality interests in its internal communications."

From an interview Issa did last night, transcript at Sipsey Street:Anderson Cooper: “CNN has obtained some of the documents that you and your colleagues have referenced and the Attorney General did receive some memos last year acknowledging the existence of Operation Fast & Furious, but only in passing. The Justice Department is saying basically, ‘Look, he receives dozens of reports every week, some more than a hundred pages. There’s no indication he knew of the problems of this particular operation that far back.’ Do you believe that?”

Rep. Darrell Issa: “Well, it’s difficult if at all possible [to] believe it. Additionally, there’s a spin going that when they talked about guns walking in excess were other programs. We’ve had testimony in front of our committee that says, ‘Justice never lets guns walk.’ And now we have written proof that they were concerned about the guns walking. They were concerned about the optics of press interviews in which they were going to talk about problems, including Brian Terry’s murder. And very clearly, this was not hundreds of pages of reports… He had to at least say, ‘I’m familiar with the name. What is it you mean?’ or that ‘I don’t fully understand everything as well as I did two weeks before.’ Instead, in fairness both to myself and to Jason Chaffetz, the Attorney General implied that he had never heard of this until two weeks before, rather than that perhaps he didn’t know what a felony stupid program this was that led to the death of Brian Terry and the release of at least 2,000 weapons into the worst of the worst people’s hands.”

Anderson Cooper: “I want to read you what a Justice Department official has told CNN cause they’re pushing back on what you’re saying. They said, ‘Chairman Issa, of all people, should be familiar with the difference between knowing about an investigation and being aware of questionable tactics employed in that investigation since documents provided to his committee show that he was given a briefing that included the Fast and Furious Operation in 2010 – a year before the controversy emerged.’ So I mean, did you, yourself know about the operation last year?”

Rep. Darrell Issa: “That is an outright lie that the Justice Department has been spinning. They shopped that to the newspapers until they found one that would print it. The fact is Kenneth Melson, a man who under oath very, very well recorded, has said he didn’t know about much of this, and clearly did not brief me in one briefing that was about gun trafficking into Mexico. And let’s understand something, Anderson. They would have you believe that I knew, that I knew what the Attorney General didn’t know, that I knew what they were deliberately withholding from ATF, DEA, and Justice agents in Mexico City and from the M- U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. So as this cover-up and this game of spin-and-delay continues, the problem is it’s only creating problems that didn’t initially exist. Initially, this was a dumb program that led to very adverse consequences. Now it’s about a cover-up, about deception, about slow-rolling discovery of this and other committees. Understand I got involved in this because Senator Grassley was denied any discovery because he wasn’t the Chairman over in the Senate, and I got involved somewhat on his behalf, and my committee has taken a lead on it. But this was about stonewalling of the Senate long before I got involved.”

To the Democrats now trying to say "BUSH STARTED IT!!!",Rep. Darrell Issa: “Well, Anderson, we’d know a lot more about it except that’s among the documents we’re still waiting to get. What we do know about ‘Wide Receiver’ somewhat is very small amount of weapons, much more intensive following, but, in fact, we will get to the bottom of whether or not this practice in a smaller way may have begun on the Bush watch. We’re not putting it past any Administration and giving anyone a pass. The American people and the people of Mexico expect us to have a zero tolerance for letting drugs come into our country or weapons go into Mexico.”"So knock off the bullshit and give us the documents."

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

by having to obey the law; don't you just feel so sorry for the sad little pandas?To borrow from Insty,So they happily broke the law to deprive people of their legal rights and now that they might be punished for doing so, they’re troubled? Personally, I’m gratified. And if being punished for violating the law is troubling “intimidation,” then what have you folks been doing — illegally, I stress — since 1987?They've been screwing with people's lives because they could get away with it, that's what.

So the corrupt bastards running Fannie Mae knew about problems clear back to 2003? Why am I not surprised...

Note to the dumbass redhead in the BMW on NW36th this afternoon: you know, deciding to blow past me in the narrowing area wasn't a real good idea, and if I hadn't seen you and eased back & over you'd have had some nice scrapes in your paint; and after all that you were right in front of me for blocks. You idiot.

On that Gunwalker news, listen to what the White House weenies were telling her about 'reasonable' media:

They REALLY don't like it when major media people actually ask them hard questions on a seriously nasty matter, do they? All good, the 'reasonable' crap starts about 8:20They will tell you that I’m the only reporter–as they told me–that is not reasonable. They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I’m unfair and biased by pursuing it.

In August, an internal PowerPoint presentation from the American Federation of Teachers surfaced online. The document described how the AFT undermined minority parent groups' efforts in Connecticut to pass the "parent trigger" legislation that offers parents real governing authority to transform failing schools. A key to the AFT's success in killing the effort, said the document, was keeping parent groups from "the table." AFT President Randi Weingarten quickly distanced her organization from the document, but it was small consolation to the parents once again left in the cold.

House Republicans are going to call for a special counsel to determine whether Attorney General Holder perjured himself during his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious, Fox News has learned.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is sending a letter to President Obama arguing that Holder cannot investigate himself and will request a probe by a special counsel.

The question is whether Holder committed perjury during a Judiciary Committee hearing in May. At the time, Holder indicated he was not familiar with with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program known as Fast and Furious.

Judiciary’s call for special counsel comes after documentation surfaced yesterday that indicated Holder was getting weekly briefs on Operation Fast and Furious, and that senior Justice Department executives were well aware that these operations were walking guns into Mexico.

Special council. People under oath with a no-bs "Lie to me and I will prosecute you" situation. About damn time.

Also, I think the stress is getting to them. Espcially considering how much the major media has been covering for them up till now.6:05 - Laura: So they were literally screaming at you?Attkisson: Yes. Well the DOJ woman was just yelling at me. The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me. [Laura: Who was the person? Who was the person at Justice screaming?] Eric Schultz. Oh, the person screaming was [DOJ spokeswoman] Tracy Schmaler, she was yelling not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House."

Monday, October 03, 2011

Yes, there's proof:New documents obtained by CBS News show Attorney General Eric Holder was sent briefings on the controversial Fast and Furious operation as far back as July 2010. That directly contradicts his statement to Congress.

On May 3, 2011, Holder told a Judiciary Committee hearing, "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."

Yet internal Justice Department documents show that at least ten months before that hearing, Holder began receiving frequent memos discussing Fast and Furious.

And something from Mark Steyn on our Obama-ass-kissing press and some of the consequences:But in the case of Obama the chasm between soft, seductive, politico-media "centrism" and hard, grim reality is too big to bridge, and getting wider all the time.

You would think this might prompt some sober reflection from an American mainstream media dying in part because of its dreary ideological conformity. After all, a key reason why 53% voted for a man who was not, in Tina Brown's word, "ready" is that Tina and all her pals assured us he was.

Occidental, Columbia, Harvard Law, a little light community organizing, a couple of years timeserving in a state legislature: That's what America's elites regard as an impressive resume rather than a bleak indictment of contemporary notions of "accomplishment."

Obama would not have withstood scrutiny in any society with a healthy, skeptical press. Yet, like the high-rolling Wall Street moneybags, they failed to do due diligence.

Three years on, nothing has changed. Obama is proposing to raise taxes because of some cockamamie yarn Warren Buffett has been peddling about his allegedly overtaxed secretary. Yet the court eunuchs of the media persist in taking Buffett seriously as a archetypal exemplar of the "American business community" rather than as an especially well-connected crony....It is alleged that the administration chose to facilitate the sale of American weapons to crime kingpins south of the border in order to support a case for gun control north of the border. Evidence keeps piling up:

The other day, a letter emerged from ATF supervisor David Voth authorizing Special Agent John Dodson to buy Draco pistols to sell directly to known criminals. Over 200 Mexicans are believed to have been killed by "Fast and Furious" weapons — that is to say, they were killed by a U.S. government program.

Doesn't the New York Times care about dead Mexicans? Doesn't Newsweek or CBS News? Isn't Obamaism with a body-count sufficiently eye-catching even for the U.S. press? Or, three years in, are the enablers of Obama still so cynical that they accept it as a necessary price to pay for "change you can believe in"? You can't make a hopenchange omelette without breaking a couple hundred Mexican eggs?

Obama says America has "gotten a little soft." But there's nothing soft about a dead-parrot economy, a flat-line jobs market, regulatory sclerosis, "green jobs" multibillion-dollar squandering and a mountain of dead Mexicans. In a soft nation, "centrist" government is hard and cruel. Only the coverage is soft-focus.

The geniuses we have in the White House:When it was Mr. Hamm’s turn to talk briefly with President Obama, “I told him of the revolution in the oil and gas industry and how we have the capacity to produce enough oil to enable America to replace OPEC. I wanted to make sure he knew about this.”

The president’s reaction? “He turned to me and said, ‘Oil and gas will be important for the next few years. But we need to go on to green and alternative energy. [Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu has assured me that within five years, we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon.’” Mr. Hamm holds his head in his hands and says, “Even if you believed that, why would you want to stop oil and gas development? It was pretty disappointing.”Even if you believed this battery crap, you STILL HAVE TO GENERATE THE ELECTRICITY TO CHARGE THE DAMN THING. Bleep. For that matter, I wonder if Chu and Obama have any idea how many products oil is the base for? Or if they do, do they care?One further bit:Washington keeps "sticking a regulatory boot at our necks and then turns around and asks: 'Why aren't you creating more jobs,'" he says. He roils at the Interior Department delays of months and sometimes years to get permits for drilling. "These delays kill projects," he says. Even the Securities and Exchange Commission is now tightening the screws on the oil industry, requiring companies like Continental to report their production and federal royalties on thousands of individual leases under the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting rules. "I could go to jail because a local operator misreported the production in the field," he says.

The White House proposal to raise $40 billion of taxes on oil and gas—by excluding those industries from credits that go to all domestic manufacturers—is also a major hindrance to exploration and drilling. "That just stops the drilling," Mr. Hamm believes. "I've seen these things come about before, like [Jimmy] Carter's windfall profits tax." He says America's rig count on active wells went from 4,500 to less than 55 in a matter of months. "That was a dumb idea. Thank God, Reagan got rid of that."There was a lady who worked in the agency I used to work for; she and her husband had a stripper well on some land they owned(drilling rights leased to the oil company), produced something like $150 or so per month for them. Until that moron Carter did this; after it went into effect, their check came out to a few dollars a month. So many people got a little extra income off wells like this, and Carter screwed them out of it with this 'windfall profits' bullshit. If he'd come through OK after that, he'd have had trouble getting out without either a necktie party or having trash thrown at him.

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Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences. - C.S. Lewis

Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave. - Capt. Mal

A Rifleman’s Prayer:Oh Lord, I would live my life in freedom, peace and happiness, enjoying the simple pleasures of hearth and home. I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

But if that is not to be, Lord, if monsters such as this should find their way to my little corner of the world on my watch, then help me to sweep those bastards from the ramparts, because doing that is good, and right, and just.

And if in this I should fall, let me be found atop a pile of brass, behind the wall I made of their corpses. Geek with a .45

"He's Black Council,", I said.

"Or maybe stupid," Ebenezar countered.

I thought about it. "Not sure which is scarier."

Ebenezar blinked at me, then snorted. "Stupid, Hoss. Every time. Only so many blackhearted villains in the world, and they only get uppity on occasion. Stupid's everywhere, every day." Ebenezar McCoy

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition” ― Rudyard Kipling

This deprecation of individual freedom was objectionable to me. I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as means to the end of the state; but always as an end within himself." Dr. M.L. King Jr.